Sunday, June 23, 2013

Twillight Samurai


When i researched about Samurai stipend in Tokugawa era i stumbled upon this movie title randomly and give it a go. Twillight Samurai or Tasogare Seibei tells about the daily life of Samurai with 50 koku stipend named Seibei Iguchi. Despite having status as Samurai, Seibei is struggling to cover his daily expenses as he has to take care his 2 Daughters and his bedridden mother by himself and he is often mocked by his peers as he didn't take care his appearance really well. Despite his miserable appearance, Seibei in secret is an accomplished swordsman and really humble in his ability. At first i expect Jidaigeki usually have plenty of Sword actions but Tasogare Seibei proves it wrong. This movie focus on drama which depicts a daily life of a Low-class Samurai nearing the end of Tokugawa Era. Nevertheless the action scene got some nice choreography there. The story of Tasogare Seibei is rather straightforward and simple yet managed to deliver powerful message which makes it good watch for family. I am planning to watch another Jidaigeki movie, does anyone have good recommendation that have some solid actions?

Monday, June 17, 2013

Nobunaga no Chef


History and Cuisine is a strange mixture for a manga but Nobunaga no Chef proves it works out quite well. I have been reading the manga since its first translated chapter and i would say Nobunaga no Chef managed to distinguish itself among other cooking manga. The story about a Chef from present time who somehow find himself back in Warring states era in Japan. He lost his memories yet retains his cooking skill and somehow by strange events he find himself to serve one of the most prominent Daimyo at the time named Oda Nobunaga which History remembers him for his Glory and Ruthlessness. However being Nobunaga's Chef is not a simple task at the times the main character need to present food that possess more meaning than a simple food in which the chef sometimes find himself in Life death situation. The main charm of this manga is that each food that the main character presents hold rather deep meaning for the person he presents the food at least most of the time. While there are other good cooking title manga, Nobunaga no Chef is great read due to its unique characteristic. So far the manga is quite faithful with the History but it is uncertain if it is the same in the later story. Master Cooking Boy is another great manga comes in mind when it is about Cooking genre.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Knight of Sidonia


Another promising mecha manga that i should have read earlier. I was interested with Knight of Sidonia series when i saw a Riobot version of one of series mecha which i got my first impression from its very long cannon that surpass even Buster Launcher of KoG. Knight of Sidonia is one of those main stereotypes of the mecha series where the plots focus around the main character who is a chosen one and pilot a robot with legendary background fighting against unknown Alien races called Gauna which is equivalent to Bydo or Vajras or ELS. While Knight of Sidonia is using the typical Stereotypes of Mecha series, I find  this manga is better than most of the past examples and have quite promising future. This manga is one of the works of Nihei Tsutomu who is most well known from his Cyberpunk manga BLAME! which is why it also got some Cyberpunk influence on the manga but not as intense as the former one. There is a good chance that Knight of Sidonia would be concluded in some way involving understanding stuff which could be better than the past examples of mecha series like 00 or AGE. Anyway it is still too early to make any conclusion and i will be looking forward to the anime adaptation.